佛祖統紀 13.29

13.29

Dharma Master Congjian was surnamed Mao and hailed from Songyang in Chuzhou. When he was young, whenever he saw Buddhist scriptures, he was spontaneously able to recite them. His father said, “He is a person from a previous rebirth.” At the age of nineteen, he was tested on the Lotus Sūtra and obtained ordination. He immediately went to pay respects to [Dharma Master] Biancai of Shangzhu, listening and studying day and night. He then went to rely upon Nanping at Jinshan, where his questions and debates flowed like water. Nanping praised him, saying, “My path shall be carried forward by you!” During the Xining reign period, he expounded the teachings at Mingqing, and his assembly grew increasingly numerous; he then moved to Jingzhu. At the beginning of the Yuanfeng reign period, people of Chuzhou built the Shousheng Monastery and welcomed him to dwell there. Three years later, when Biancai presided over Nanping, feeling aged, he humbled himself and invited the Master to lead the assembly, and the following year recommended him to succeed himself. In the fifth year of the Yuanyou reign period, the abbot's seat at Shangzhu fell vacant; Biancai instructed the commandery governor Pu Zongmeng, “This site of spiritual efficacy and supreme traces cannot be filled by anyone other than Congjian.” The commandery followed his advice and memorialized the throne to bestow upon him the honorific title Cibian (Compassionate Eloquence). The Supreme Patriarch Ŭich'ŏn (Yitian) came from Goryeo to seek the Dharma, and the commandery appointed the Master to respond to the request. Ŭich'ŏn admired the Dharma and lingered in the Central Kingdom, but the imperial court, because his mother longed for him, urged him to return. The Master admonished him, “The eminent monk Daoji carried sūtras on his travels for study, and because he could not abandon his mother, he carried both together on his shoulders, saying that neither the scriptures nor his mother could be turned away from. Now, Supreme Patriarch, you are far worthier than Daoji; how could you turn away from your mother for the sake of scriptures and cause her to worry and pine?” Ŭich'ŏn then resolved to return, requesting the censer, fly-whisk, and transmission robe. He went to the stupa of Zhiyi and made a vow, saying, “Having received the teachings and contemplations of Dharma Master Cibian, I will return to my homeland to circulate them; I pray for your unseen protection.” After returning, he established a temple, erected an image, and venerated [the Master] as the founding patriarch. In the second year of the Daguan reign period, [the Master] took leave to return to the school at Shousheng. Chexi Puming and nine others went to pay respects and inquire after the Master. The Master said, “You have traveled far to arrive here, but we will not meet again in the future. Why should an old monk not leave while the spirit moves him?” Thereupon, he bathed, changed his clothes, ascended the seat, preached the Dharma, wrote a verse, and passed away sitting peacefully. His whole body was buried at his tonsure monastery.